The flag-waving preschoolers marching down 167th Street on Friday from Bobbie Noonan’s Child Care to Fire Station No. 2 in Tinley Park still were many years from being born when the events of 9/11 unfolded.
So on the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that claimed more than 3,000 lives — most of them by crashing two planes into the World Trade Center in New York City — officials blended a history lesson, hope and patriotism into a ceremony.
Tinley Park Deputy Fire Chief Dan Riordan said the annual event is an opportunity “to help them understand how things happen.”
Several other Patriot Day events were scheduled throughout the Southland, from Oak Lawn to Midlothian to New Lenox to Joliet and others.
In Tinley Park, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and supporters gathered at Fire Station No. 2 ahead of the 9 a.m. event, as a parade of young flag-wavers from Bobbie Noonan’s streamed along the sidewalk in a mostly orderly fashion. The question for officials was how to engage the kids, ages 2 through 5, while commemorating an event that not only occurred more than a decade before some of them were born, but also one that was difficult to comprehend?
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The answer came in four parts:
*Symbolism: The children watched firefighter Tony De Adam lower the flag at Fire Station No. 2 to half-staff.
*Ritual: Children and adults recited the “Pledge of Allegiance” together.
*Silence: A hush fell over the scene as the fire station’s bell sounded on behalf of fallen firefighters.
*Celebration: The children sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”
Karen Bazant, director of the Bobbie Noonan operation, said the children “don’t always understand what they see on TV. Because they’re so young, we try to make it kind of a history thing.”
Riordan offered a few remarks during the ceremony, but leaned heavily on quotes by former President George W. Bush and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“We’ve got to make sure people of the community never forget about what happened,” Riordan said. “When you’re called to duty, you have to make sacrifices in order to protect people and our freedoms.”
Meanwhile, at Joliet Junior College, police, firefighters, faculty and students gathered near the campus bell tower to observe the 14th anniversary of the terror attacks.
“People need to remember it’s not over; this is still an ongoing battle with terror and we need to remember what happened so that we can hopefully prevent it from happening again,” Joliet Junior College Police Chief Pete Comanda said.
Police and firefighters from nearby departments participated in the ceremony, which included a moment of silence to remember those who died in the attacks. Comanda made special note of the more than 400 first responders who were killed that day.
“They had families of their own and yet they were willing to give their lives to save the lives of others, because that risk was part of their normal daily routine,” he said.
Cook County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Chief Tom Hardin spoke in the school after the ceremony about current trends in homeland security. He discussed how investigative agencies are working together to thwart terror plots and respond to crises.
“We are made stronger when we work together,” Hardin said.
Dennis Sullivan and Alicia Fabbre are freelance reporters for the Daily Southtown.